Another Giants fan sues over Coke slide injuries

On the opening day of the Giants baseball season, another fan is suing the organization, charging that she was injured sliding down the Guzzler slide at the ballpark's Fan Lot.

Lyndi Kane, a 32-year-old Milpitas resident, was attending the wedding of her friend which was held in a suite at AT&T Park July 6, 2008. She and others decided to have their picture taken at the giant slide.

"I didn't know the slide would be so fast and as I came down, it just happened,"Kane said.

Kane tore several ligaments in her ankle and later broke it because it had become so weak from spending two months in a cast.

"I think the worst is we have a son who has cerebral palsy and when this happened, I wasn't able to pick him up for quite a while or move him and do stuff like that," Kane said.

Her story is similar to many others who have injured themselves riding the Guzzler.

Twisted backs, broken knees, ankles and legs have all happened as a result of a trip down the Guzzler.

"Why they haven't done something to fix it is beyond me; I don't know," attorney Joe Poppen said. Poppen and his partner Fred Meis represent Kane in her lawsuit, as well as several other plantiffs.

During a recent lawsuit by another Giants fan, the court forced the Giants and Coca Cola to release a document which lists 55 people who required medical attention after suffering injuries on the slide. Six of them happened last year.

"They've known all this time that this is a dangerous slide that doesn't comply with the law," Fred Meis said, referring to safety inspection reports done by two different companies which the Giants hired to look at the Guzzler slides. Both gave the rides failing grades.

The state says, since the stadium is not considered an amusement park, there is no government oversight like Cal/OSHA for the Coke slide; it falls into a regulatory twilight zone.

The Giants declined to comment, saying they do not respond to pending litigation, but in the past the organization has told ABC7 that the slide is safe and will continue operating.